AnUmpaLumpa's Blog - 2old2play

Vaporware?

What ever happened to the Phantom by infinium labs?

I was watching the news and absorbing the hype and then nothing. I know this is now like 2 yrs later but what the hell happened?

I found a link which gave me a credible picture and about the whole phantom premise http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3714141.stm

and here is a link to a site saying that it has truly disappeared http://uk.gizmodo.com/2006/08/17/phantom_console_truly_disappea.html

Why did it fail? Was it the same as the Gizmondo? Corporate fat cats crashing too many cars and buying too much coke? (jk) People just didnt want it? Too much emulation problems? Charging problems?

The main reason i am asking all this is because Sony made an off the cuff remark that their next console would probably be disk free. This would mean all games would be downloaded over a secure marketplace onto your HDD. That is exactly what the Phantom was supposed to do! So is this a good move for Sony?

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Fanboys?

After reading the excellent reportage from Code i was wondering? Is this a even community? I know we have plenty of fanboys but the recent anti PS3 comments have got me worried.

Now i have recently been called an xbox 360 fanboi and even tho i have some of the qualities i prefer the term game enthusiast more. I am very supportive of the 360 and all that M$ have done but i wont bash Sony too much as we dont know alot of stuff. This doesnt stop alot of people tho and the anti sony comments are coming thick and thin.

What possess people to become die hard fans of a particular console or brand. Is it that we need a certain level of stablity and reassurance, maybe subconsiously?

Unbiased reviews come around very rarely and i dont believe i can even do one. This turmoil revolves inside me? Am i a fanboi? I have loads of consoles and enjoy playing them. Admitedly i really only play on my 360 now even tho the PS2 and Cube are all set up and waiting. Why is that? Why do i only seem to buy 360 games now? It may be a lack of funds, but what does M$ offer that Sony does not and why are poeple so adament to defend that?

What if Sony start doing things better than M$ Will the fanbois convert? Will they close their eyes and pretend that it's not happening?
I think that the only thing I hope for is that i can build a great friend base just like on 360 and that i get great quality games. Hopefully soon i shall be asking myself "what platform shall i buy this game on"?

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New replacement cases!

Well i was kinda bored so i was surfing to see if anything new had come out for the 360 in Asia and i found out that there were some new cases available! I posted a thread in the UK clan forum but thought id write it here aswell as i am very excited about it.

New replacement cases have come in for the 360 at Lik-Sang. It is making me very tempted to replace the chrome one as sometimes the conectvity with the controllers is very lame.

Visit here to see

[url]http://www.lik-sang.com/list.php?nav=over&category=366&[/url]

You can also get the full controller cases from decal girl and they look the mutts nuts! Damn i wish i had more money as i would be doing some heavy importing right now.

Check it out here

[url]http://www.decalgirl.com/browse.cfm/2,225.htm[/url]

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New Demos

Well I have been playing on the Phantasy Star Universe Demo mostly but took time out to play the FEAR demo. Now i had heard good things about this game but after playing the demo i wasn't really impressed. Graphics and lighting effects are poor and the enemy moved in a rigid "Counter Strike" way. Now i dont know much about the history of this game but i was hoping for better things. Alot of the weapons had been done before but still amused me non the less. My faves were the sort of rocket launcher that left just charred skeletons and the rail like gun that impaled people with spikes rather like the cross bow from Half life 2. I have dome pictures of my shooting. The first image is when i couldnt quite understand what the gun did and the second when i nailed someones head to a wall through his eye.

The other demo is of Phantasy Star Universe and this game is just unbelievable! I love this game to bits. Its full of rather annoying people but still it is great. I have run out of time to describe it but i will post some pics i did. They are not of anything exciting, just me chilling in the lobby.

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The brightside

Well both my washing machine and tumble dryer decided to break last night! The brightside? it was right after a had just finished gaming! I was playing on the amazing game that is Phantasy Star Universe and if the power had tripped out whilst playing i think i may have just flipped out! But luckily i had just logged out when the power flipped off.

Now ive got to buy new appliances right when i am thinking of saving up to buy next months games releases! There's going to be Rainbow 6 vegas, PSU, GOW and i will have them all hahaha. I can always play naked. Just count your blessings as i dont have the camera....yet!

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Chrome 360!

Well i thought id show off my new 360 on these here blogs! I got my replacement case from decal girl and it got shipped over to UK on an Express UPS delivery. Decal girl are always top notch and i was very impressed with their customer services and promptness.

The new cases are amazing and as far as i can tell there is no difference between stock and replacement unlike the fantasy controller faceplates.

I used some replacement memory card doors from a green faceplate to make it alittle differnet but everything else is chrome.

I just cant wait for the full replacement cases for the controllers as i have only the faceplates for my 4 controllers.

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Info on the Mofo

Well i havent wrote a blog for ages as i mainly do a msn one for my close friends, so i apologise for that.

I have been doing some mad downloading over the past week as everybody knows that xbox live have been posting lots of cool HD movies on the marketplace! Holy shit those bad boys take ages to download! My connection (512Kb) has been taking a right beating! Im glad im unlimited. I have been loving the coverage on this site aswell! I have been checking out the videos and it was here that i first saw the PS3 controller and the user interface! Man that PS3 interface is lazy and shit! God damn sony! Not an original thought in its body, stealing ideas left right and centre then when an opportunity to shine arrives it god damn gives us a cheap ass PSP user interface!

Check out my poll in the PS3 forums to see how many people like the new interface:

http://www.2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=14227

The 360 just keeps getting better and better with the rumour of a dashboard update that allows you to download marketplace items in the background and even to queue them up! Thanks to TANK for posting the info in the 360 Hardware forums. I t just amazes me to see a company actually listening to its fans and providing them with great customization content! The marketplace has been a great success and i am continually impressed by the amount of cool stuff released! The only thing that is a slight thorn in my side is the fact that EA are dicks! I cant find out what the Battlefield 2 MC themes look like as they are not listed on the Marketplace on Xbox.com. I think this may be because they are part of EA and EA just want everything their own way which is usually the wrong way.

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Is achievement whoring wrong?

Im currently working on Battlefield 2 MC and i wondered what were the thoughts on me hooking up with other friends to whore some achievements?

What i mean by this is like the Medal you get by killing 4 people with your knife in a game. Just hook up with a fellow friend and join oposite teams, join chat and find each other in a secluded spot (already sounds shady) and choose who goes first. You can then get the achievement! This can be don with expert sniper medal where you could just rush the chosen sniper and let him pwn you till he gets the 10 kills without dying. The list goes on, but is this wrong. Would someone then look at me achievements and say that i cheated?

I like the achievement system as it makes you play far more than you would normally and also sometimes more tactically. I have a bit of a Pokemon attitude to them and want to catch them all but would i be cheating myself by doing it this way?

Plz help me in this dilema, i dont want to end up like the guy sat next to the healing box rocketing himself.

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GRAW matchmaking SUCKS!!

Thats right you heard me! It sucks! Of all the games in the world it matches me up with games that have just started like 25 seconds ago! Like what is the deal? Cant this game actually hook up with people that are actually in a lobby? I spent about 45 mins just hopping from one lobby to another last night in multiple game types just seeing the same message of game is already in progress! Grr this game is really great with people you know and can hook up with but otherwise the whole matchmaking needs an overhaul!

Another rant is that the xbox Live setup takes absolutely ages to set up! It was only a silver membership for one of my friends on my 360 but it took about 1/2 an hr to setup! Reminds me of the early Dreamcast days!

And EA can shove their servers up their ARSE. Fkking EA servers yet again incommunicada!!!!!!! Stupid EA.

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Level 42!

Well i was trying to get some more medals on Battlefield 2 last night and i had just got the expert support medal when i thought "what the hell, ill try and get the sniper one"! I then tried to do it on the headshot mission when you have three snipers and you are counter sniping all the time. Man this mission was hard to do first time round. I had only 2 stars the first time i did it!

Well i worked hard and cursed lots when that x9 combo disappeared as i reloaded but my labour paid off on the final go! I somehow managed to nail a x9 combo when i had to reload and so i swopped to another sniper who had 2 troops next to him. Oh yeah when that medal popped up i quite literally pumped the air with my fist and couldnt stop smiling! I kept it up until the end of the game gettin x9 combos all the way and when i saw my score at the end i was dumbfounded!

I have never got a score on xbox live that is less then position 210. That day i got position 42 for that map! I know its only for that map and for the others its like "you are position 23,149" but that was my moment of glory!

Man im still excited about it now, man im a geek.

Gamerscore and achievments RULE.

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Introduction

Hi everybody im just getting used to the blog feature and put some stuff about me.

I just turned 26 last month and i joined this website last year after Gas had his timmie story published on the Bungie site. I never really used forums before as they all seemed to be full of flaming arseholes. This site welcomed me in and i actually felt like a member rather than a faceless post whore.

I am from Sheffield in England United Kingdom and i work in medical research. I hang around the 360 foums especialy the hardware and graw threads.

Oh yeah. My tag is SSYMM and that stands for South South Yorkshire Mass Murderer. Nothing sinister though as it is from a Manic Street Preachers Song from their album "This is My Truth, Tell me yours". I am a big fan of the manics but fell out with their later stuff. My first tag was AnUmpaLumpa hence the member name but i kept getting unwanted interest from timmies and flamers so i dropped it after a year.

Oh well thats it. Thanks for the wonderful site and keep up the good work. Great community!

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