Recent Buys: Episode 8 - Wireless PlayStation 2 USB Controller Microphone Adapter

For this episode of "Recent Buys" there is no actual videogame that was purchased however the items that were bought are mainly for my videogame antic and adventures.

Firstly the more directly videogame related item. Another one from CD-RKing, it's the PS/PS2 to USB Controller Adapter. It allows you to use a previous generation PlayStation controller on either your PS3 or PC. A friend of mine had one of these and since his PS2 controllers work on most PS3 games he had no real reason to purchase another PS3 controller for the longest time. It took me quite a while before I found a CD-RKing branch that had one of these so your quest for one may not be easy. I tested it out on Street Fighter x Tekken and it works just fine. I am sad though that it doesn't work in Mobile Suit Gundam Extreme VS. And here I thought I could get in some 2 on 2 Gundam VS. action on a budget.

As for the not-directly videogame related item, it's another microphone. To be honest I've gotten a few microphones already while searching for one that let's you actually hear me without a flood of ringing sound noise. Sure the mics I got were a little on the cheap side but finding USB mics in general seems to be a challenge for me. Maybe I'm just looking in all the wrong places. This microphone I got on impulse as I was just browsing through a shop called "The Electronics Boutique" in Robinsons Galleria. Why was I there? Well they had a wireless lapel mic set that went for only 999php which I hear is rather cheap for a lapel mic. Since my upload speed isn't grand, a more expensive better sounding mic will be a little moot. I just wanted one that could either hear the room clearly without me having to boost it to dangerous level or have one wirelessly so that I at least don't have to be right beside my laptop when I want to stream. The (I'm reading the name off the box) Trident TR-300 Professional Wireless Microphone set went for only 499.75php which was even cheaper than the set I saw previously and only needed to operate using a single AA battery for the receiver (the other needed it's own power outlet). I tested it out while playing Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and even with it boosted to +20db it sounds decent which is more than I can say for my previous microphones. I definitely still need to do more tests but for the most part I'm glad I saw this.

Here is some footage of my scrub gameplay of Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 using the said microphone. The gameplay audio is a bit delayed because I was running it through VLC.

http://www.twitch.tv/acicon/b/319431000

Weekend, what are you playing?

It's the last week of May. A couple of great titles were released this month, but I'm still invested in one particular game that had the most attention this month. Are you in the same boat as me or did you guys have a completely different weekend? If you did then good for you. So go ahead, tell us what you've been playing this weekend.

Quash: The image above pretty much sums up my weekend really. My Demon Hunter is now level 60 and in Act 2 on Inferno Difficulty. Inferno is definitely a challenge. Better level 60 gear and more awareness is key. Currently farming gear in Act 1 because Act 2 is still not doable with my current gear. I'm getting one shot by bugs the size of my crossbow. Not cool. So I'm doing the Act 1 boss over and over again. Might not sound fun for some, but for some reason, I'm getting a kick out of this farming method.

Migoy: Got a new microphone for my broadcasting setup and since I got a Skycable broadband setup I had to put it to the test first. For testing out my new mic and net for streaming I played Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 because again that game can give children seizures with it's fast moving images and flashing brightlights which makes it a perfect guinea pig. From what I can tell the mic is and the setting I have for the stream seem to work out fine. The only problem being my net (or possibly the router) acting up and disconnecting me from time to time.

However, before I started doing tests for the stream I also tried out online gaming with my Skycable broadband. The game in question was Street Fighter x Tekken. I'm using my HongKong PSN account since the region of my game is R3 and with it's DLC being region locked it is appropriate that I used my Asia account. Got a few yellow bar connections which worked really well. SFxT's netcode is amazing. Sure I got a few cheap sweeps in but you can hardly feel the input lag well compared to Super Street Fighter IV and especially UMvC3.

I will try to stream again later tonight and maybe continue my very early gameplay of Final Fantasy XIII so that I can shut-off my brain and just run through straight and narrow corridors in that game.

Diablo 3 impressions - Day 1, error 37, and the lack of offline

Since last week, it's all about Diablo 3. Well, for me that is. All my free time has been heavily invested in this addicting Action RPG and I'm enjoying every minute of it. But every time I run Diablo 3, I'm always reminded how this game would have been better appreciated if we had the option to play without internet connection. This is definitely Diablo 3's biggest flaw and every time lag occurs reminds me of this fact.

I bought Diablo 3 a few weeks before May 15. Where I live, day one releases for video games are pretty unpredictable. You can't really trust that they will have a specific game on a specific date. So to avoid  calling and bugging store clerks if Diablo 3 copies have arrived, I just decided to buy the digital copy of the game. An online option if your just that lazy to the point you can't even take a 15 minute drive to pick your copy up. Was I that lazy? A bit, but the real incentive to purchase Diablo 3 was the opportunity to pre-install the game to be able to play at midnight on May 15. That and I was a bit worried of being more expensive in stores. But with me living in South East Asia and planning to play the game on the Americas servers(SEA servers), I had to wait until 3pm of May 15 for the servers go up. .

I was all set up. Chips on the side, game fully installed, friends on Skype also waiting to do our first playthrough as group. We just wanted 3PM to hit so badly. When 3PM came though, in just 15 minutes, excitement turned to frustration. It took us an hour and 30 minutes after 3pm to get in and create our first character. Error 37 -That was the error I was experiencing every time I tried to enter the servers. There were just that many people trying to enter the game. It felt like a bottle neck traffic jam, everybody trying to get inside this tiny door all at once. Blizzard said they prepared for it, obviously they weren't.

When everybody finally got a chance to enter the game. Problems did not stop there. Constant reports of horrible lag, connection issues, achievements disappearing(I experience this one), and many more left Diablo 3's launch a complete nightmare for most players. Thanks to all those issues, emergency maintenance were happening, leaving players unable to play. Servers tend to crash every once in a while. Problem after problem, in short - first few days wasn't pretty.

In all online games, issues like this occur, but this one was just bad. The whole game was actually being overshadowed on how bad Blizzard prepared for this launch. The last thing you want is to have fans that have been waiting for this release for years to finally battle server issues rather than butchering countless demons for loot.

Offline missing...

Some people prefer playing Diablo 3 solo, and it is just bizarre to experience lag spikes as if your playing an MMORPG. So why is there no offline feature? Blizzard claims that Diablo 3 is better played online, thus creating Diablo 3 as an online-only video game. It is also online only to fight piracy which is a load of bull since Starcraft 2 has an offline mode.

Some people say that it's because of the game's Auction House that will soon give the players the option to sell/buy gear with real money. Which by the way, will go crazy when it goes live. Players will definitely abuse it. But I still think it's doable since offline characters was separated from online characters in Diablo 2. It's possible that the lack of an offline mode is mostly because of the real money Auction house, since Blizzard is actually going to get a cut from every successful transaction. Crazy. Instant profit for Blizzard right there and is pretty much a win-win for both the player and Blizzard.

Diablo 3 having no offline feature is really the biggest issue right now. We are forced to go through all that lag and server maintenance whether you like it or not. The chances of doing well with a Hardcore character(Character with one life) is pretty slim at the moment thanks to the current lag in servers. Definitely will give Harcore a try but I won't last long that's for sure.

Aside from this game's online service being a pain, the game itself  is worth the wait. Maybe not for some hardcore D2 fans, But I'm definitely feeling that addiction way back when Diablo 2 was released. Will work on my full review of Diablo 3 soon But for now, must reach level 60.

Weekend, what are you playing?

With it being the first week of Diablo III's release, I can pretty much guess what most of you (if not all) are playing but nonetheless if you have an epic story to share from you demon slaying or world saving adventures, share them here.

Migoy: Tried out Mobile Suit Gundam: Extreme VS. on the PS3 and boy does it feel different compared to it's previous iteration Mobile Suit Gundam vs. Gundam Next Plus. Sure the fundamentals are basically the same if you've spent a significant amount of time in any fighting game, you'd be able to pick out the differences in each iteration. If I were to put it simply, the timing on moves and dash cancels is tighter, boost seems to drain faster, moves have been replaced / reshuffled, same goes for the roster. They've also brought back a mechanic that was present in the PS2 and PSP Gundam VS. games Mobile Suit Gundam SEED: Rengou vs Z.A.F.T. (back then it was called SEED mode) where you get a speed and slight power boost as well as replenishing you boost meter and all your ammo. Assists have also been removed nd that took a little getting used too. I am loving the game so far and will definitely paly more of it. It feels like a completely different game that I need to learn from the start.

Planning to play a bit more of Skullgirls since I just the full version of it on PSN. If the fighting games tire me out there are still a bunch of JRPGs that I need to tackle. Namely Final Fantasy XIII and Kingdom Hearts.

Quash: Oh god, I was literally off the grid thanks to you know what. Diablo 3 is great and just as addicting as it's predecessors. My first playthrough took me 15 hours since I was looking at every dungeon, exploring every part of the map, listening to the books I find and talking to the characters in the game. Pretty much taking all that Diablo 3 has to offer. The game has good length. But normal was too easy for my taste, so now I'm aiming to reach the hardest difficulty which is Inferno. Currently on Act 2 Nightmare and is still not giving me any sort of challenge for my Demon Hunter.

I don't see myself shelving this game anytime soon too. Just like the old Diablo games, I have this urge to try other characters and find the best loot. So far my biggest issue with Blizzard's latest game is that it's online. I play alone or with a friend, it doesn't matter. Lag will always be around to piss me off.

Recent Buys: Episode 7 - The Legend of Extreme Vs. Skullgirls

Like I said in my Skullgirls demo impressions post, I got a $20 PSN card and bought Skullgirls. I also bought some more videogame toys so let's get into it.

So Skullgirls, I bought it, checked to see if it really did install the full game unlock, went into training mode and tried some other characters for a few minutes. Outside of that I haven't played it for real yet. This is my first weekend since getting an internet connection setup in my home (finally) so Ziggy (my PS3) is busy downloading and installing update for every single disc I pop in. Those update can't be downloaded in the background so I'm stuck watching a very boring screen for 10 minutes to even an hour NOT playing the game. No worries though since I got a whole Sunday still ahead of me.

Aside from Skullgirls I also bought a Legend of Zelda gashapon set. Usually these come in one of those random capsule machine where you don't know what you're getting until you open it but since I got mine from a local hobbyshop (GreatToysOnline), it was already a complete set meaning no duplicates. I'm sure most of you will say that The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is the bestest 3D Zeldarific game ever but in this figure set I gotta say that the Ocarina figure are the weakest of the bunch. Young Link is in an ok pose but is facing all the way to the side of the stand and young Zelda looks like Master Yoda with those big eyes and big ears. My personal favorite from the bunch are the Wind Waker figures since they look exactly like their video game counterparts (w/c are adorable) and is what sold me on getting the set in the first place. The Skyward Sword ones are pretty cool too since I like the new design of the characters. Paint job on the figures re pretty spot on considering they are gashapons though to be fair they are one of the expensive gashapons (they went for 200php a piece which means 4 tokens per draw) so at least the QAs did their job.

On to the items that are in sort of the grey area of things. Not quite recently bought but more like recently acquired. Finally got my hands on the import of Gundam Extreme Vs. that I sent for back in February and the custom printed t-shirt that a friend of mine did for my birthday present. Since shit is still downloading, installing, and updating on my PS3, the Gundam Extreme Vs. game is still sealed in it's plastic shrink wrap (NRFB mode). Still deciding whether to open it tonight or save it for tomorrow and try Battlefield 3 online for the first time instead.