Posts by "arne"

Valentione’s Day

Charm Wand +1 in Final Fantasy XI FFXI

I keep forgetting about those special themed holiday events in games. I forgot about the Christmas/Winter event in FFXI even. But it didn’t seem to be that much of a big deal, it’s usually fun to participate and sometimes (like for Halloween) there are some rewards that are totally worth it.

This time in FFXI, Valentione’s Day, creeped up on me. Although I frankly have little motivation to do anything that requires a time investment, I will do it. I won’t hate it, I just don’t think I can easily find that kind of time in my life before the event runs out.

I definitely want one of the items though.

What color are you?

Nintendo DS Lite in ice blue

Nintendo announced the colorways which will be available for the Nintendo DS Lite at launch (in Japan at least). Except for white I think these are pretty bold color choices for a handheld at launch.

Based on this, I updated my planned purchases list as Ice Blue is going to be my first choice, especially since it almost matches the color of my car. How sad… ha ha.

ps. No pink? For shame.

Multi-user chat over Xbox Live

Xbox Live chat screen

One of the most requested things I’ve seen on the boards, apart from Backwards Compatibility updates, has been adding a multi-user chat “room” to the exiting one-to-one chat on Xbox Live.

When rumors of the update to the Dashboard started circulating a few weeks ago, every few posts was either specifically expressing hope for or requesting the addition of a voice chat feature that would let you have multiple people join in.

Looks like the folks on the Xbox Development Team have noticed the same thing and have addressed why one-to-one chat is the only option available on their Xbox Team blog.

Finding out that the minimum broadband requirements are 64kbps upstream and downstream for all Xbox Live functions and games was a pretty interesting piece of info to come out of it… I know nothing about games networking, but that seems like a pretty small bandwidth requirement and it’s a testament to how the networking has been optimized for online considering all the games work pretty well online.

Project Gotham Racing 3 Time Trials

For the past week I have joined some fellow people on GAF in a series of time trial challenges in PGR3 from a post by kindbudmaster.

I’ve never done time trials online in any game, even though I’ve raced online. This was a first as far as something organized and friendly would go. I can’t tell you how much fun and frustration I had joining in. Easily topped just about every other online experience I’ve had so far, and that includes joining the guys for some friendly racing if we happened to be on at the same time.

We’ve done four rounds so far and it looks they will be more to come. Kindbudmaster has been MIA for 4 days already, so I hope he comes back soon!

Check out WHOAguitarninja’s time in Round 1. Last I checked that time is still in the top 10 for Class C on the overall Leaderboards. Check the replay out, I was impressed by the consistently smooth driving around that track, especially that first nightmare-inducing chicane.

RProject Gotham Racing 3 PGR3 Ruf CTR Yellowbirdound 1
Nishiguchi Short (Tokyo) with a RUF CTR “Yellow Bird” (Class C)
Best: 53.01 (WHOAguitarninja)
Mine: 56.41

Project Gotham Racing 3 PGR3 Lamborghini MuircielagoRound 2
Flamingo Straits (Las Vegas) with a Lamborghini Murcielago R-GT (Class A)
Best: 59.36 (Brodequin)
Mine: 1:00.84

Project Gotham Racing 3 PGR3 Callaway SledgehammerRound 3
Park to Tillary (New York) with a Callaway Sledgehammer Twin Turbo (Class B)
Best: 59.36 (Brodequin)
Mine: 2:07.56

Project Gotham Racing 3 PGR3 Ferrari TestarossaRound 4
The Birdcage (London) with a Ferrari Testarossa (Class E)
Best: 1:39.12 (Tie: WHOAguitarninja and Brodequin)
Mine: 1:42.72

We <3 Katamari checks

Jumping on this bandwagon, I read via Kotaku, who got it from Boing Boing, that someone made checks with a Katamari Damacy theme.

Fantastic!

I’m definitely going to make my own nerd checks now. The only question is… what to make them of?