Nintendo’s decision to not include a built-in rechargeable battery pack with the Wii remote has left you with an odd conundrum. On the one hand, you don’t necessarily have to stop gaming or swap controllers just because the batteries have died. If you have another set of batteries on hand, you simply swap them out. There’s no need to stop the gaming session for a recharging session.
On the other hand, you’re also needlessly spending money on items that could have a much longer shelf life. Why spend money on an entirely new set of batteries each time the previous set runs out of juice?
Let’s face it: disposable batteries have been outmoded for a while now. Rechargeable batteries are the way of the savvy consumer, and Nintendo’s decision has left you with several options in the rechargeable battery realm.
The Wii’s popularity has rallied in numerous aftermarket accessories, so there’s no lack of variety. Before you waste another dime on a set of disposable AAs, take a look at our detailed battery guide and choose a set of rechargeables that are right for you.
We’ll weigh the three major options currently available, and provide a breakdown at the end to indicate which option best suits your gaming habits.
I have zero musical skill, unless you count tapping plastic buttons on my Rock Band Stratocaster, which I don’t. I suspect I am not alone. Yet, despite my inability to create music with an instrument, I have a deep love of listening to music. This passion has, over the years, found me exploring various software programs in the hopes of uncovering some shred of dormant ability. I’ve tried just about every program, from the light and fluffy DJ MIX to the hardcore Propellerhead applications and a little of everything in between. I had varying degrees of success, enough to inform me that I have an ear for music but not much else.
Then, Looptastic HD for iPad entered my life. The clouds parted. Rainbows danced. Kids frolicked with passive tigers. Finally, here was a piece of software that spoke my language by not speaking a language. It presents itself as a simple interface, begging for tactile interaction. You start moving sliders around and within seconds you’re making music, ready to put a “DJ” in front of your name.
Simple, Yet Deep
I can’t review Looptastic HD from the perspective of a professional. I can’t fully appreciate what a pro’s needs may or may not be with a musical application of this sort, so I’m not even going to bother. I assume since Keyboard magazine is impressed, that should be good enough for the experts. Instead, I can only discuss Looptastic HD from the perspective of a frustrated, yet eternally curious lover of electronic music who wishes he could create tunes. From that angle, Looptastic HD is a complete success.
Now more than ever, average people need to take steps to gain control over their financial situation. With the world’s economy teetering on the brink, it has become imperative that people understand their finances and, more importantly, the numbers they face. Our entire reality has been built upon numbers and those numbers have become increasingly complex, putting most people in a passive position, unable to calculate their way out of a problem.
A wonderful and incredibly powerful calculator called powerOne Financial Calculator for iPad hopes to change that. Think of this app as a secret weapon, a code book of sorts, able to penetrate the often obscure language of mortgage lenders and real estate agents. Now when they spit out numbers encased in acronyms, explaining your potential financial obligations, you can meet them on the battleground with an equal footing. “Excuse me chump, while I validate your numbers.”
I received my new Apple iPad on April 3rd, a Saturday morning, delivered by an obviously exhausted UPS driver whose day was not yet half over. Taking quick possession of the package, I wasted little time in using an abandoned door key to slice through packing tape, eventually exposing the Apple packaging within. Like everything else Apple does, even the packaging shows clear signs of design and thought. Whereas it probably took you an hour to open the plastic shell of a recent tech purchase, including time spent devising new curse words, the Apple iPad is freed from its cocoon in under 5-seconds, with no curse words required or primed.
I’m A PC, With Apple Tendencies. Does That Make Me Bitechual?
I’m a life-long PC user. I’ve never owned an Apple product, save for a brief stint with an Apple II+ in the 80s, and that was only to play the original Wolfenstein and the Pinball Construction Kit. Since that brief interlude, I’ve been PC the entire way, even casting aspersions on Apple owners when my allegiance shifted towards the Amiga 500 and 2000 computer for many enjoyable years.
Like most PC loyalists, I have gazed upon Apple products over the years with much envy, though no true PC-enthusiast should ever admit such a feeling, lest he lose his tech-cred, but truth is truth. One cannot argue with Apple’s design philosophy or the quality of their products. One can argue about Apple’s Nintendo/Disney-like control of the platform and its schizoidal treatment of developers; all valid concerns.
Two central issues have prevented me from securing an Apple computer over the years: expense and lack of quality video games. I’ve built every computer I have used for the past twenty or so years, computers that were incredibly cheap to compile yet extremely fast, with the latest 3D cards and whatnot. Buying a pre-built computer like an Apple that sells for 4-8 times what I can build for the PC platform just didn’t seem like a wise move. Less wise considering I didn’t see much in the way of Apple software that couldn’t be found on the PC. When it came to video games, Apple wasn’t even trying very hard to penetrate the market and this was a deal-killer for me. Even today, Apple computers are still lagging behind in the video game market, though it has made some serious inroads over the past few years.
Darwinia+ is finally available on Xbox Live Arcade after an extended development cycle of over four years. Darwinia+ was created by Introversion, one of the best independent game developers on the planet with several classic (and award-winning) PC games under their belt, including Darwinia, Multiwinia, Defcon and Uplink.
Darwinia+ gets nearly everything right on the Xbox, albeit with a few caveats. First off, the price is simply too high. I personally think 1200 points is a great value considering how much gameplay is on offer, but I’m in the position of being a self-professed Darwinia-freak and as such, have a complete understanding of the game and its concepts. This places me in the minority. Most Xbox 360 players will have never heard of Darwinia and will be quick to disregard it based on nothing more than its retro-graphics. Too bad, their loss.
A lower price-point of 800 would have made impulsive and/or exploratory purchases far more likely. At 1200, Darwinia is pricing itself away from experimentation and distancing itself from gamers who may not be able to perceive the game’s value based on the trial version. Additionally, Microsoft has been discounting a considerable number of games lately and players are well aware that a discount will hit Darwinia at some future date, so fence-sitters are prone to remain on their asses until the price comes down.
My second problem with Darwinia is the camera-scheme that kicks in when controlling a Squad. It does its best to position itself correctly, based on the elevation of nearby terrain, but it’s not what I would call perfect or some semblance of perfection. Fortunately, you can work with it and bend it towards your will by releasing control of your squad and repositioning the camera at a better angle, though it doesn’t completely resolve the problem.
True resolution of the Squad Tracking Camera issue will only be found in a patch and I see it working as such: Darwinia currently has two ways of selecting available squads/engineers, via bumper-buttons or directional-pad (left-right). You only need one scheme, so drop the bumpers for squad selection and use it for rotating the camera while the directional pad cycles through units. Problem solved. I waive my consultation fee.
While the camera is a minor problem at best and one that can be dealt with, the price is less surmountable. What you need are valid reason to buy Darwinia+, reasons that may not be entirely obvious in the limited trial version. Without further ado…
One of our writers posted a critique of the latest wildly-popular BioWare RPG, Mass Effect 2, on our sister site, InfoAddict, and it’s seriously stirred up the emotions of quite a few fanboys so we thought we’d reprint part of it here in case it was of interest to you too.
With an average score of 96 on Metacritic, one would be justified in believing Mass Effect 2 has little room for improvement. An overwhelming majority of so-called game critics have weighed-in, predictably showering Bioware’s latest RPG with roses and garlands.
Bioware is one of a select number of game companies that receives a +3 modifier in review scores. So take an average game that would normally receive a 7, add Bioware’s name to the box, and oila! Instant 10. While this may be great for Bioware’s bottom-line, it’s actually a grave disservice to the company and gamers, not to mention a glowing example of everything that is wrong in game journalism; criticism specifically.
Having played and finished Mass Effect 2, I can safely say, without reservation or hesitation, that Bioware’s latest RPG is a complete mess, from top-to-bottom and not a product worthy of Bioware’s heritage.
Before I launch my critiques, allow me to post a comment from Bioware’s very own Ray Muzyka that appeared in a recent interview given to Computer & Video Games:
Early feedback and reviews for Mass Effect 2 have been hugely positive. You must be delighted?
We look at it really practically. We’ve had a lot of 90-rated games right? Pretty much every game we’ve ever released has been 90-plus. So we take it in our stride. We kind of look at it that sometimes our teams are our worst critics in terms of the way they look at our past work.
While we’re really ecstatic about the feedback we also look at it and say ‘Where are the opportunities for improvement? How do we make the next installment in this trilogy better? How do we make the next installment of Dragon Age better? How do we make Star Wars: The Old Republic better?’ I look more to the future than to the past.
It’s interesting being at the EA meetings and receiving the launch congratulations. I appreciate it and it’s nice to receive nice words and congratulations, but I’m more interested in how we drive success in the future, how we make our next games even better than Mass Effect.
Well Ray, if you want to know how to improve your franchise then I highly recommend you don’t read any actual reviews, because my brethren in the journalism community are rabid fanboys who unfortunately have bylines. You also won’t find much at Metacritic because they de-list any site that has review scores that are not within some arbitrary average, which defeats the entire purpose of aggregate reviews when you remove low scores.
So Ray, that leaves you and me…and few lonely stragglers shouted down in forum posts. Besides, the public has spoken with their wallets: they love Mass Effect 2. Then again, people love the Transformers movies. There is no accounting for taste, but there is bookkeeping when it comes to quality.
That’s just author Jack DeVore getting started, and he doesn’t hold anything back. Follow this link to read the rest of it – or even just to browse through some of the surprising responses made in the comments below!
Loading ...
(Ratings Average: 4.00 out of 5)
Loading ...
