thirdworldgamer

1. You don't know if the modified unit you're buying is an old one or a lemon that just got repaired. How would you know? There'd be no way of knowing. 2. You don't know if the technician who modifies your unit even knows what the hell he's doing. If it breaks, how can you blame them? They'll probably put you through hoops, make you come back week after week after week, give you more hassle. Hey, it's your time...far as I know, time is money, at least for me. 3. You don't know who these people are who are churning out these firmware modifications. How do you know these things won't break your 360 with some bug or two that surfaces later on? 4. By supporting piracy, you become part of the problem. So these consoles break so easily (the truth is, all of them break, not just the 360. PS3 = BDL). We don't have anyone to turn to to have these things fixed. Why? Because the console makers don't want to support us here. Why? Because we support pirac...

Impressions: 1. You only get to pick the easiest setting....so I thought this game would be a walk in the park. 2. Around four or five guys jump me at the start of the game, and I'm surprised at how aggressive they are. I had to use block in most cases. They weren't able to kill me (since the game was in the Easiest setting) but I was surprised at the enemy AI's behavior. After having played DMC4 I totally didn't expect that. 3. I was all oooohs and aaaaahs at the 60 FPS frame rate! There were a few rare occasions that it dipped but I didn't care! BLOOD AND GUTS EVERYWHERE FTW OMG YEAH! 4. You can pick Japanese voice / English subs for the purists out there. 5. You can choose from VARIOUS WEAPONS in the DEMO! Oh man, I loved the scythe! Yesssss! And then later, you pick up a SPEAR and it's more awesome compared to the scythe!!! 6. I'm amazed at the quality of Ryu's animations and there seem to be a good variety of moves for an action game. 7. The gra...

The demo for NINJA GAIDEN 2 is out on the JAPAN Marketplace for Xbox Live Gold Users! The demo is about 857MB. :D

Click here for a nice article - Tekken vs. Virtua Fighter - which is the best?

I found these from http://www.virtuafighter.jp/ . Oh, if only SEGA had better distribution for their fighting games! We're stuck with TEKKEN 6 here in the Philippines. I tried it the other day and I really didn't like it. Couple that with VF5's dismal sales on the Xbox 360; it looks like VF5 Live Arena will be the last VF game that I'll be able to play on my console unless I get a Playstation 3. For various-sized versions of the above wallpapers, click this link to go directly to virtuafighter.jp's downloads section. Also, there's a video about VF5 Version D here: http://www.virtuafighter.jp/image/dl_image/vf5verd_adv.zip

I found this on VFDC the other day, I didn't know Jacky got an extra winning pose in Version D. It's the best one. Too bad it's not on the Xbox 360 version! (To see the winning pose right away, fast forward to the 3 minute mark). Who wouldn't be annoyed by that one! Hahaha!

This is another nice article about game reviews and Grand Theft Auto IV: http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=18761 " Opinion: 'PR’s Dirty Little Game With 11th Hour Reviews' [In a sharply worded opinion piece, British games journalist and producer Simon Parkin discusses how limited access to Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto IV may have affected its initial reception by the press, suggesting that withholding pre-release versions may be affecting reviews of many big game titles.] Judgments cast before they'd been adequately weighed; words sold before they’d been properly valued; shallow opinions that should have been presented as the first word in a conversation but were dropped with the clacking gavel pound of a conclusion. Yeah, every writer has regrets. Four weeks ago in this publication I referred to Grand Theft Auto IV’s depiction of immigrants as being more nuanced and sympathetic than that demonstrated by the exquisite Baltimore-set television dra...

Found this great article, again via Neogaf forums: http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2008/05/27/rock_band/?ybf1=1 "The fake crowd roars. I fake drum faster. Our fake band, Sex Baby, embarks on a fake world tour on our fake jet, playing fake stadiums in all the fake capitals of Europe. Our fake selves grace the covers of fake magazines, and our fake fans number in the millions. When our fake manager calls to tell us we've been invited to play the fake Hall of Fame showcase in fake Stockholm, my real husband turns toward me, and smiles." I can imagine, not every gamer is going to find a significant other that also enjoys video games (let alone understands them). Rock Band is a great equalizer; after all, it involves playing music and singing---I think these things are enjoyed universally by people of all ages. Wuffy's comment: Slightly Off Topic: Scythe and I sometimes ask ourselves why we often have nice conversations regarding gaming but have nothing to record it on b...

The crazed fanboys from Pinoypsx are trolling Pinoyxbox's forums again. http://www.pinoyxbox.com/phpnuke/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=15571&start=210 http://www.pinoyxbox.com/phpnuke/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=15250&start=555 http://www.pinoyxbox.com/phpnuke/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=17289&start=0 http://www.pinoyxbox.com/phpnuke/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=17382&start=0 Note that this isn't the first time that they've done this. Here's what I have to say to the psychotic Sony fanboys. "Hay naku, here we go again. And you wonder why Pinoypsx never gets any respect from Pinoyxbox members. One time my friend (a Playstation fan) went to Pinoypsx and he said he couldn't understand why the posts there felt so immature. And they're always flaming members about something. Basically he said the members on PPSX were always so hostile or angry about something. It...

I found a nice, large picture for the drum kit for Guitar Hero World Tour (GH4) online. Looks great! I just hope they can solve the problems that the Rock Band drum kit had: - the Rock Band drum pedals break easily (ours hasn't broken yet but we've read online that it really does break easily; we had to modify ours with rubber stoppers to prevent it from breaking). - the Rock Band pads are so loud, so sometimes it's hard to hear the notes that are playing in the game when you hit the pads hard enough. I also read they're prone to breaking if you hit them too hard too. - Lastly, I also read that the Rock Band drum pads aren't sensitive enough for playing through some songs on Hard or Expert difficulty. It can't keep up when you're drumming really, really fast on some songs. Activision can capitalize on these mistakes from EA/Harmonix and make a better drumkit. Now, if only they had access to a better list of songs and had more downloadable content.....

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6191360.html?tag=latestnews;title;4 "Report: Microsoft scaling down 360 sales in India Lacklustre sales of the console in the country has led the company to begin withdrawing from the market, according to Money Control India. By Emma Boyes, GameSpot UK Posted May 21, 2008 7:45 am PT The Xbox 360 launched in India on September 25, 2006 with the standard console (now called Premium) selling for 23,990 rupees ($561), and the Core (which came without a hard drive) for 19,990 rupees ($465). For the console's debut, Bollywood heartthrob Akshay Kumar and cricketer Yuvraj Singh were enlisted to feature in an advert promoting the new console. However, the venture didn't really go as planned, according to a report in Money Control India. From the article, "The company has been facing dismal sales already due to sloppy customer support, high hardware failure, and pirated games. While Microsoft games cost upwards of 2,500 rupees [$58] each, [they are]...

On Pinoyxbox's "PXB Taksil! Thread" (PS3 users thread), it was reported that Playstation Network (PSN) accounts made by gamers living in the Philippines are being suspended by Sony. From Holocause on the Pinoyxbox forums: "From what I've been reading, the potential reasons could be from: Falsifying your identity... stating that your living in Japan when your IP clearly show's your not. Making multiple accounts from a single PS3. You have 1 account for the PSN server in Japan, another account for the US server etc... etc... Probably got complained to by someone (bad feedback) Game sharing... purchasing content from the PSN store and then giving them away for free to 5 other buddies on your friendslist Joining up for PSN from a region that is not supported by PSN These ofcourse are unfounded right now and are just rumors as to why the block. Nothing to confirm them. Its similar rin I think as to the grounds of how XBL blocks-off content from users. Difference k...

Join the XBOX 360 WCG Preliminaries for GUITAR HERO III and VIRTUA FIGHTER 5 and get a chance to win one of the following Xbox 360 original games or items! 2 GUITAR HERO III: LEGENDS OF ROCK with XBOX 360 WIRELESS GUITAR 2 UNIVERSE AT WAR: EARTH ASSAULT 1 GRAND THEFT AUTO IV 1 RAINBOW SIX VEGAS 2 1 GHOST RECON ADVANCED WARFIGHTER 2 1 VIRTUA FIGHTER 5 LIVE ARENA 1 PROJECT GOTHAM RACING 4 1 HDMI Cable Each of these prizes also come along with other freebies such as a Grand Theft Auto IV Poster and a Need For Speed ProStreet Seatbelt Casing. To qualify for the raffle for these prizes, all you have to do is play for the XBOX preliminaries at the WCG. You don't need to become one of the finalists to be eligible for the prizes. Just join in the preliminaries for the Xbox 360 games and get a chance to win one of these games! The final draw for the winners for these games will be done at the WCG Finals at the SM Mall of Asia on July 13, 2008, after the awarding ceremonies. If you've al...

The cold, hard facts: April NPD US Sales Figures were released today. First post has the numbers: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=296026 "Hardware PlayStation 2 124.4K PlayStation 3 187.1K PSP 192.7K Xbox 360 188.0K Wii 714.2K Nintendo DS 414.8K Top 10 VG Titles - April'08 Units* 360 GTA IV 1.85mm Wii Mario Kart w/ wheel 1.12mm PS3 GTA IV 1.00mm Wii Play 360K Wii Super Smash Bros. Brawl 326K PS3 Gran Turismo 5: Prologue 224K DS Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness 202K DS Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time 202K Wii Guitar Hero III 152K 360 Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare 141K *includes bundles, collector's editions, GOTY editions" My take: 360 and PS3 sales were neck and neck for the first time in months. GTAIV on the Xbox 360 confirms that the US gaming population has chosen the Xbox 360 as their platform of choice for the highly rated sandbox/action game. Nintendo continues their sales dominance, which isn't really interesting anym...

Now playing Rock Band, we'll be back...really, we promise! :D

I posted this on my 'base page' on Teamxbox ....it just generally reflects what I think about their online community. "The World is Not The Internet By: scytherage 12:17 AM PDT Views: 62 After years of visiting, I've realized that the forum here in Teamxbox is a place where gamers constantly lament about their Xbox 360, tirelessly bemoan their game purchases (usually after five minutes of actual video game play), and long for any other game platform that isn't made by Microsoft. In other words, this isn't really a place for real gamers or real Xbox 360 fans...It's a great place for xbox 360 news, though. But opinions? Reading the stuff here can be quite depressing; it'll make you want to move on to another hobby with less fanboys (or less people who think they aren't fanboys). If you want to actually enjoy Xbox 360 gaming, play the games, make the most of them, and meet friends in REAL LIFE who like the same thing that you do and deal with them inst...

Early this morning we received word that that US Xbox 360 Arcade that we ordered is arriving TODAY! So finally we can play this game! w00t w00t!!! As was reported previously there is no definite date for the Asian Xbox 360 version of Rock Band. Perhaps the version coming out in Europe will be compatible but it's incredibly expensive. This is the best option for us right now. It's just unfortunate that EA handled the worldwide distribution of Rock Band very poorly (by making the game region locked for the Xbox 360, the platform with the largest installed base of next-generation systems).

Some of you may get it, some won't....I'm posting it for posterity, though http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=294999

Note: This my delayed reaction to this article: Blu-Ray: The future has been delayed . I wrote this blogpost a long time ago but I just forgot to publish it. First of all, we all have to congratulate Sony for their amazing strategy. Once HD-DVD has thrown in the towel, the PS3 has become the defacto Blu-Ray player. The PS3 is the the most logical choice for anybody if they want a Blu-Ray player. First: it's the cheapest Blu-Ray player around in the market. Second: The PS3 is the only player which can be updated and consumers will need that considering the standards to Blu-Ray has not been finalized. By having Blu-Ray win the HD Wars, Sony has effectively instigated a quasi monopoly in the HD Movie market. Sony can boast that even a sale for a non-gamer consumer who buys a PS3 for movies...can also be qualified as a sale for the videogame industry since now that he has the PS3 that certain consumer has a greater propensity to purchase a PS3 game simply because the they already have...

Earlier I posted the prizes for the WCG/ACG winners, which I based on the paper press release which Esports handed out during the press event. I learned today that the press release wasn't the updated list of prizes; the correct prize listing is on the page for it on http://ph.worldcybergames.com/ This is the correct listing of prizes for WCG Phils 2008: "LIST OF PRIZES: For WCG winners (Xbox 360: 1 winner for Guitar Hero III): FIRST PRIZE - P30,000 in cash - Round Trip Airfare and accommodations to Cologne, Germany on November 5-9, 2008 to represent our country in the World Finals - US$100 Food Allowance - The latest Samsung mobile phone - Quad Core processor from Intel - Villman Premium Item - Logitech Gaming Keyboard and Mouse - Asrock Motherboard - Sparkle Video Card - PHP 1,000 Gift Check from SM - PHP1,000.00 Gift Check from World of Fun - Playground Subscription - Datablitz Game Boxes SECOND PRIZE - P5,000 Cash and Samsung MP3 Player For ACG winners (Xbox 360: 1 winner ...

I'd just like to give a heads-up to all JRPG fans out there. Mistwalker's Official Website is back online and now translated in ENGLISH!!! I hope that the inclusion of English means that Mistwalker acknowleges their growing fanbase outside Japan. It's also nice to see the articles without having to go through hoops with an online translator. Without further ado... http://www.mistwalkercorp.com/ It's also interesting to note that Mistwalker did not pull out the gallery images. The cute colorful drawings appear to be a Nintendo DS game which is being made by one of Mistwalker's developer partners, Brownie Brown. The other images, which reminds me of Battle Angel Alita, is still unnamed. Is this the new face of Cry On or something completely new from Mistwalker? Hmmm...come to think of it, its about time for MSKK (MS Japan) to have a new press conference for their latest Japanese 360 exclusive title. I'm keeping my fingers crossed its another JRPG from Mistwalker. ...

During the World Cyber Games press event we met with Alex Villafania and chatted about the Pinoyxbox community and the upcoming WCG preliminaries. They posted a new article on http://blogs.inquirer.net/hackenslash/ with a video interview with us about the Xbox Community in the Philippines. Article link : http://blogs.inquirer.net/hackenslash/2008/05/12/pxb-likes-it-live/ Thanks to Alex from Inquirer.net for helping us to promote the local Xbox community :D

In case you didn't know about it yet, the PINOYXBOX COMMUNITY is going to raffle Xbox 360 prizes for players who simply join the Xbox Preliminaries for the World Cyber Games 2008. In a nutshell, you can simply participate in the WCG qualifying rounds and you're already eligible to win a prize! The following is the updated list of PRIZES for the Pinoyxbox WCG Raffle: 1 Virtua Figher 5 Live Arena (Asian Version) 2 Universe at War Earth Assault (Asian Version) 1 Project Gotham Racing 4 (Asian Version) 2 Guitar Hero III Bundle (NOTE This includes the guitar!) 1 Rainbow Six Vegas 2 1 Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 Legacy Edition 1 Grand Theft Auto IV 1 Ver1.3B HDMI Cable 5 200 Peso discount coupons for buying games from Pinoyxbox's Wakka05 1 12+1 Month XBOX LIVE Subscription (Updated 6:59PM) So what are you waiting for! Join the XBOX PRELIMINARIES for the WORLD CYBER GAMES 2008 starting on May 17, 2008! Here's the schedule for the preliminaries: METRO MANILA ELIMINATIONS ...

Third World Gamer was recently invited by the organizers for the World Cyber Games (WCG) here in the Philippines to their press event in CityKart Racing, Sucat . With WCG 2008 looming on the horizon, the press event was their means of announcing that the preliminary competitions would be underway starting May 17, 2008. As announced previously, the following are the listing of games included for the World Cyber Games: Console Games: Guitar Hero III Virtua Fighter 5 Live Arena PC Games: Counterstrike 1.6 Warcraft III: Frozen Throne Command and Conquer III: Kane's Wrath Defense of the Ancients Need For Speed: Pro-Street To be clear, the organizers for WCG are looking for players to represent the Philippines for two international competitions: the Asian Cyber Games (ACG) , and the World Cyber Games (WCG). The finals for the ACG will be held in Singapore while the finals for the WCG will be in Cologne, Germany. Since our blog focuses more on the console side of the competition, ...

Third World Gamer's Wuffy and Yahoosoda got featured on Inquirer VDO today, playing Guitar Hero III at the press event for the World Cyber Games 2008. http://www.inquirer.net/vdo/player.php?vid=756&pageID=1 "PARAÑAQUE CITY, Philippines--PinoyXbox.com moderator Joanne Ortiz and her brother Rafael Formoso play Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock on the Xbox 360 on its highest difficulty setting. The song title is "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" by Steve Ouimette. Video taken by INQUIRER.net community evangelist Alex Villafania." This page requires a higher version browser

Ever since SEGA patched VF5, the game has allowed players to save their online Xbox Live matches on their Xbox 360 hard disk drives and view them again later on as match replays. I thought this was one of the best features of the game, since it would let you review online matches and learn from your mistakes, and it would also let you revel in those hard-earned victories and close matches! Now I've recently recorded some of the best online matches I've ever had and I'm currently in the process of uploading these to Youtube. These replays not only demonstrate the level of competition that's available for VF5 on Xbox Live; they also show how great the netcode is for the game. The way it plays online practically feels like you're playing right next to your opponent. Granted there are those very rare occasions when you get into a laggy match, but for the most part, online matches feel and play as smooth as is demonstrated by this video. Note that my internet connection ...

NEOGAF has this ongoing thread with a compilation of some video game wallpapers and high resolution artwork (some of the graphics there are in 2000++ resolution) Really useful thread! http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=276451

We're still waiting for that US Xbox 360 Arcade unit that we ordered from someone over in pinoyxbox.com so we can play Rock Band! :D While waiting I occasionally play Virtua Fighter 5 on Xbox Live (in preparation for the WCG Preliminaries). One of these days I'll post replays of some online matches that I enjoyed. In other news....well, most of the gaming news I've seen these days are GTAIV related, and they're linked practically everywhere so you can't miss them. Money's a bit tight these days since we did order that new 360, so we aren't able to get in on the whole GTAIV thing. So this will be another completely-unrelated-to-gaming post. But this is my blog and I can do whatever I want hehehe :D I saw this interesting write up on MSNBC: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24189855/ It's related to this story: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24129953/ My wife's a big Harry Potter fan and I only got into it because of the movies. I read a little of the first boo...

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/iron_man/ And the film deserves it! :D

The past few Marvel movies have been a total miss for me. Yes, even Spider-Man 3 . I just couldn't stand the "That 70's Show" guy as Venom. And the scenes with "emo Peter Parker" were a complete failure....after the whole sequence in SM3 that seemed straight out of a Broadway musical, well....that was the last straw. Tobey Maguire is NOT Peter Parker as I remember him from the comic books. I also thought there was too much melodrama and not enough superhero-spectacle. So today we watched Iron Man. With a bit of hesitation, actually, considering I thought that the trailer was just OK and I had a feeling this was going to be like Ghost Rider all over again. That said, I came out of the theater very satisfied. :D Robert Downey Jr. did a great job as Tony Stark and I thought he made the character interesting and unique from other superhero alter egos. Gwyneth Paltrow as the love interest surprisingly did well too; normally the female leads in superhero movies ...

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/gta-iv-sets-uk-day-one-sales-records " GTA IV sets UK day one records Chart-Track has made available UK sales data for GTA IV's launch based upon actual EPoS data and retailer estimates. According to Chart-Track estimates, GTA IV first day sales were 609,000 units - eclipsing the record of 501,000 units set by GTA: San Andreas in 2004. GTA IV also set a record for first day sales Xbox 360 software, with 335,000 units . The prior record, set last September by Halo 3, was 266,000 units. GTA IV easily eclipsed the first day PS3 sales record previously held by Gran Turismo 5: Prologue, which had day one sales of 80,000 last month. The PS3 version of GTA IV sold 274,000 units in the UK on day one. These initial figures may change once Chart-Track has analysed the data in its entirety on May 6 following the UK Bank holiday."