Kinect, New Natal Name…

Microsoft showed off “Natal” at E3 with a new name “KINECT” — and I have to say, this is a terrible name — Natal was much better. Obviously, the Microsoft think tank thought they were clever to have “Connect” and “Kinetic” fuse together — sorry, but it just doesn’t sound right to me. I’m not a fan of “Move” on the Playstation 3 either, but at least it’s spelt correctly. :) I’m also still not too keen on “KINECT”, compared to physical devices like the Wiimote and Move — I guess I’m just old school and like to have something in my hand. Like I mentioned before, why would millions of people go buy a Wii Wheel to play Mario Kart Wii when they could have played it using the normal Wiimote? Obviously, the KINECT would be better for dance games since you wouldn’t be holding a device in real life while dancing, and the voice recognition is a neat touch — if it works for everyone :) Microsoft also showed off the smaller design Xbox 360 which looked good, especially having built in Wi-Fi — just a shame you can’t use normal 2.5″ in hard drives like the PS3, thus resorting to getting ripped off by having to buy Microsoft’s own HD. Once thing about the new “slim” 360 is that it will NEVER give the RRoD because it only has Green LEDs, No Red ones! :D

Sorry For updates

As the title suggests – sorry for lack of updates/covers. Taking a break from it all, so if you have made a request — don’t get your hopes up any time soon. Actually, been playing Final Fantasy XIII a fair bit (well, I’ve completed it, but just trying to complete missions etc.) and doing other stuff, so haven’t had much time for photoshop’ing. In fact, after getting my newer PC, I haven’t used it at all — since I got the old PC running fine (fingers crossed).

New PC! YEAH!

Although I got my current PC up and running… seems pretty fast without all the installed programs I had before :) — I decided to splash out and get a new PC, and I now I have a nice Core 2 Quad running Windows 7 Home 64bit. I have to admit, I’m not a fan of Windows 7, all that security of permissions etc. like on Vista, gets right up my nose! Also, as it’s 64bit too, some programs I have won’t work, meaning I have to get the 64bit versions. Currently, new PC is pretty bare.. and I still have to take out all my drives and graphics card (new one has on-board shared one) to stick into new PC, then install stuff like Photoshop etc., So be a few days before I get any labels/covers made.

Update News

Sorry for lack of updates, and covers/labels. Yet again, I caught a virus on my PC.. partly my fault for letting program run! Unfortunately, this meant another format and reinstall, and even then, that still caused problems (probably because it infected the backup files too). Anyway… currently PC is pretty bare with no photoshop or anything else on there :( Maybe it’s a good time to get a new PC since it’s getting on a bit. A nice Core 2 Quad or i5 would do nicely, especially if it means running Photoshop 4 without it slowing down :)

BioShock 2 Custom Cover

bioshock2 preview custom cover

Here’s my custom cover for BioShock 2 for the 360. The front is basically an image which I think suited the game. The back, I used another image of the Big Daddy and Little Sister for the left side, added the hanging doll on the right from the first teaser trailer, and screen shots made similar to the retail cover. The crack glass was just taken from the web and blended in.

My Latest Custom Cover — No More Heroes 2

No More Heroes 2 custom cover

Here’s my latest custom cover for the Wii — No more Heroes 2. As you can see, it’s in black instead of the usual white as I’ve decided I’ll make all future Mature Wii titles in black after Nintendo announced that they will have black covers for Mature game, like Red for New Super Mario World. As my cover for the first game is based on Kill Bill, in Yellow and red stripe, this one is based on the sequel in red and yellow stripe.

Delay for Motion Controller

Sony Motion ControllerKazuo Hirai, President and Group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., announced that Sony’s Motion Controller will be available worldwide in the Fall of 2010 together with an extensive line-up of software titles.

FALL? Another delay from Sony. I have to say I’m rather disappointed. I’m a big Playstation fan, but their delays in releasing stuff are getting ridiculous. Obviously, the Playstation 3 system shot itself in the foot being released well behind the 360 (especially Europe) and at such a high price. There’s been game delays like KillZone 2, Gran Turismo 5 and even Square Enix’s Final Fantasy XIII has been put back recently. Another thing is, the Motion Controller requires the Playstation Eye  — which, on the PS2 was a pretty fun device to have when it first appeared, but it’s something Sony nor other companies have exploited. I mean, The Eye of Judgement and EyePet are possibly the best titles for, it which isn’t saying much considering the Eye was released three years a go. I guess you can use it for games like Little Big Planet for creating levels, Capturing your game face in EA Sports titles, or seeing yourself look a fool with Singstar, but I bet if it was Nintendo you would have had maybe a Crazy Wario game, an action packed Mario adventure, a brain trainer title, Pokemon, etc.. etc.  However, I do think the Motion Controller is a better idea than Microsoft’s Natal. Don’t get me wrong, Natal looks amazing, but I can’t see it working well with games. I mean, it’s like the gesture TV remote control, touch screen tablets, clapping lights… even automatic gear boxes in cars — all these things are available but people stick to conventional methods of control (unless you’re American I guess with the latter :) )  You can also look a Mario Kart Wii — why would so many people buy a plastic wheel to play the game when you can play it with the normal controller. Actually, I’m surprised Sony didn’t get together with, say Namco, and released an official Gun for the PS3 on release. With the 360 churning out 1st person shooters left, right and centre in the first year… shooting with a gun would have been an extra advantage especially with Resistance on release ;)

Slight Update to Blog

Well, had a meeting after work, so didn’t have time to do anything to site or make any covers. Changed the top image as you can see with some characters from games that look impressive for 2010. Can you name them? :) Had a bit of trouble getting it all to knit together since there was actually two images which had to match up. Might add some more later for the left side — possibly some text like URLs to Console Covers etc.

New Look 2010

Since I never use the full options of MK Portal, I decided to revert back to using Wordpress Blog. As you may know, I stopped using Wordpress about a year a go because after an upgrade to the Blog software, it totally killed my site, and only an old version of it would install properly. However, it seems the current version seems to be working okay. As you might expect, I’ll be customising it later so it will have more to my look, and probably mean I will write more as it’s easier to do :) So, hope you prefer it.. and any one wishing to join in, you’re all welcome to ;)