Guitar Hero 3 Free Entries Contest

It just struck 12am and it's 2008. I'm here, updating this website for you guys instead of going out and celebrating new year. Actually, new year isn't a big deal for me anymore, it's just another day. I'd rather spend the time playing games - which is why I am an author of a gaming news blog, because I care.

Anyway, I've mentioned Brunei Cyber Game holding a Guitar Hero III competition at ICC this weekend and you want to join but don't want to pay the $15 registration fee. Don't fret! We are giving away two free entries for you so you won't have to pay that registration fee and save that precious 15 bucks of yours for your girlfriend's/boyfriend's new year present! What? Your not getting your partner anything? Shame on you!

But anyway, before you get the chance to get the free entry, you need to enter a short contest where you answer some questions about GHIII. Simple questions but only two get to win. We will select the two people who answer the most questions correctly and if there are more than two, we will draw names and pick two winners.

Also, please copy the questions below and email it with your answers to sinadam@gmail.com. Include your full name, IC number and contact information. We will announce and contact the winners on Wednesday, 2nd January.

Note, all rules of BCG still applies such as bringing your own guitar to the event. We will not supply anything to you but a free entry. For more information on the event, please visit the official site here.

Finally, I wish you goodluck and Happy New Year!

1. In which year was the first Guitar Hero released?
2. On which console was it first released?
3. Who developed the first Guitar Hero?
4. Who published Guitar Hero III?
5. How many Guitar Hero games are there and what are they?
6. In Guitar Hero III, how do you unlock the Saint George Guitar?
7. In Guitar Hero III battle mode, what does the 'Broken String' power up do to your opponent?
8. How many Bass guitars are available in Guitar Hero III?
9. Name all characters found in Guitar Hero III.
10. Bonus question: what does BCG stand for?

Brought to you by BruGamers.com thanks to RanoAdidas.com.

Evolution of Mario

Mario has undergone a lot of surgeries and, unlike us people on plastic, Mario is actually looking better and better the past two decades. Who said growing old makes you look all grey and wrinkly?

Image via Geekstir.com : Click for larger view

It's interesting to see that Nintendo gave Mario a somewhat 3D look in the 1987 Mario and went back to its one-sided 2D look in 1990. But hey, he's looking rather handsome in Super Mario Galaxy!

A PS3 Christmas

I remember how ecstatic I was back when my dad bought us a Micro Genius to replace our stolen Super NES when we were kids. Imagine the joy a kid would feel today to have been bought a PS3 by his parents. That's just the case in the following video where these kids dad sneakily got them something special for christmas.

This Week's Poll

I'm curious, really. I've assumed, and I shouldn't have, that the gamers who get access to this website are of at least 18 years of age. I forget that most gamers in this country tend to be quite young. So, tell me, how old are you dear readers?

Leave your comments here and click on the poll on the left side of this site to pick your choice.

GHIII Free Entries Contest

Just a short update as a follow up to the last post on next week's competition. We want to let you guys know that we will be giving out TWO free entries to the GHIII tournament, organised by RanoAdidas and Sunlit, via a small contest soon. Note, this contest is only for free entry to the Guitar Hero III competition, not PES2008 and not winning the GHIII competition itself. Free entry, which means, if you still do not understand that, you do not have to pay the $15 registration fee.

Remember, the competition is for GHIII PS2 - but as far as I know, nothing much differs since all guitar layouts are the same.

So check back with us soon to find out how to win the free entries.

This BruGamers.com contest is sponsored by RanoAdidas.com.

PES2008 and GHIII Competitions

The gaming community in this country is getting more and more recognised. With this afternoon's event on the first ever xbox 360 meet, hopefully more people will be able to understand how mature the gaming industry has become and not just refer to it as a "kid's thing".

Next week, another gaming event will be held at ICC, this time focussing more towards competition than a showcase. Competitions are open to the public which include PES2008 tournament and the ever increasingly popular Guitar Hero III. Registration was held the past three days but if you are still interested in joining, registration is still open on the 2nd and 3rd of January at ICC from 10am to 5pm.

The event is organised by ranoadidas.com and Sunlit, and knowing the experience of Rano, it should be pretty well prepared.

For more information, visit the website.

The First Xbox360 Meet in Brunei

It’s amazing to see support from the community from time to time. This is especially true during the recent 1^st Xbox360 Gamers Meet held at the Mall in West Street Café today.

It was Guitar Hero III's mini-tournament that took center stage, despite only using the HDTV’s speakers; it still gathered onlookers and supporters to join in on the fun with the competitors. The intense battles between eight players were electrifying and the intensity increased when the finals took place.

In another turn of events, as the last of the Guitar Heroes receives their prizes, the organizers showcased another glimpse of the future by unveiling Rock Band for the first time in public. Songs that were played were Weezer’s Buddy Holly and The Knack’s My Sharona. The audiences were ecstatic, even as far as humming to the tune.

This event was the first of its kind outside the usual Winning Eleven Tournaments which has been going around for awhile now. Overall, the event was well received and quite commendable for a first time.

The purpose for such meeting was to create awareness of an Xbox360 community in Brunei, promoting the system as well as its online/LAN capabilities and encouraged gamers at purchasing original games.

Amongst the schedule events for the day included demos of Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare which showcases what the Xbox360 does best, playing together in multiplayer.

With more encouragement from the gaming community, events such as this will only get better and hopefully have enough variety to pull off something on a grander scale. Let this be the start to something great!

For more info about the event here.

Honestly, creative suicide?

December is probably the worst time of the year for every lonely people out there, (yes, me included) but there are times when loneliness sometimes gets to you and you just wanna reach out to the nearest copy of Halo 3 and just find creative ways to kill yourself. Which I think is what this guy did. Enjoy the ensuing mayhem!

Wii: Gotta Love 'em all!

Okay, what I just saw about the whole Chun-Li pic affair really affected me! haha! So do no fret, to those who are really into cosplay, there are actually some of those exceptional few who takes the effort at making their favorite characters come to life more... well, less disturbing. Feast you're eyes on her!

More at their website here.

A New SF Movie?

With Street Fighter IV coming up, I was digging into some news on Street Fighter related info and bumped into one movie that I never knew was coming. Remember the disastrous Street Fighter movie made years ago? If you are old enough as a gamer, you won't forget it.

Anyway, apparently, a new SF movie is coming out but focusses only on one popular female character (you've guessed it) Chun-Li. Titled Street Fighter: Legend of Chun-Li, the movie filming in March, 2008. Kristen Kreuk of the popular TV series Smallville will play Chun-Li.

And umm... here's something else for you. Happy holidays!

X360 Gathering, GH3 Tourney

I'm pretty much in a holiday mood at the moment. Been busy going here and there, spending time with my wife, family and friends - which is why there is lacking news and posts from me and more from Syazwan. New years is coming and there really isn't much news left. Just thought I'd let you guys know that there is an xbox 360 gathering at The Mall this coming Sunday from 1.00pm - 5.30pm. A mini Guitar Hero 3 tournament will be held in between but limited to 16 participants only. Check it out for fun!

Hopefully, I'll be free to go and see the gathering. That's my family day out but we'll try to report what we can.

BruGamers Official Logo

So we, the authors of BruGamers, sat and discussed where BruGamers.com is headed and where we want to bring it. We held on to our pens and papers, started scribbling some ideas, talked about potentials and contacts for hours, drinking cups after cups of hot coffee - and we ended up with nothing.

Okay, I'm kidding. We didn't do that. But what we really did was sat down and discussed about a BruGamers logo. For over two years of BruGamers' online life, we had no logo. I've thought about it a number of times but never really did anything. Now, finally, we have the time to actually see the future of BruGamers. I mean, we've already got domain names, three to be exact, BruGamers.com, BruGamers.net and BruGamers.info, so before making anything really official, we thought, it's about time that logo appears and we decided that it would look retro. And so it did. Lo and behold...


Yes, it's the logo you see up there on our new banner. Like our new banner? Here's a bit more info on it.

• Red thing in the middle: A couch or sofa to represent where gamers are.
• Character with black outline: A typical classic game character to represent gaming.
• Select, Start: Represents the Gaming Industry as these two words can be found in all gaming medium.
• The "waves" on both sides: Yes, they are waves. They represent communication. One, games nowadays are live online and rarely you get games that doesn't connect with others. Two, communication between our blog to you guys, sharing news and stories.
• Black, Red, Yellow colours: Represents Bruneians, taken from the our own Brunei flag.

Watch out for this logo out there...

So what do you think?

Brugamers Review: Mass Effect

It’s an action RPG in same vein as BioWare’s past effort, but more streamlined than I care to remember from the last game. Exploration, traversing worlds is fun, choosing the things to say in conversations trees opens up the option whether to be a bad ass or a boy scout – this game encourages you to make your own decisions.

The story might not be original, but to an extent it is quite entertaining in a lot ways, it’s along the lines of Battlestar Galactica episodes added with some other sci-fi fodder. It won’t win any awards, but it will make up for some really interesting story and makes you want to go on further just to delve into the mysteries of Mass Effect’s universe.

Some lags in the framerate during heated skirmishes but it won’t hamper the overall experience of the game. My only complaint is the flipping controls while driving Mako (the vehicle you use while traveling to other planet) add to the non-existent explanations on how to control the vehicle, this thing is definitely no Warthog. Fortunately, you only really have use the Mako on a few of the main missions, so it can be tolerated.

30 hours plus of gameplay. A set of interesting characters to interact with, beautiful worlds to traverse as well as equally sweet graphics and with the game setting itself up for a sequel, I think we can expect a lot from this game in the future.

More on the horizon: Games to look forward to!

With most of the main releases for games are now out and most gamers are now curled up with their Halo 3, Super Mario Galaxy, Castlevania Dracula X, Guitar Heroes, Uncharted, Assassins Creed… and so much more, let us not forget to look forward into the distant future. Well, mostly early next year’s game releases on all systems that’s worth looking into.

So which games are you looking forward to?

PSP

01/08 Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law
02/12 Wipeout Pulse
03/04 God of War: Chains of Olympus
03/25 Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII

DS

01/21 Advance Wars: Days of Ruin
02/18 Professor Layton and the Curious Village
02/19 Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney

PS3

01/15 Haze
01/22 Burnout Paradise
02/05 Devil May Cry 4
02/05 Turok
03/04 Winning Eleven: Pro Evolution Soccer
03/04 Destroy All Humans! Path of the Furon
03/04 Army of Two

Xbox 360

02/05 Devil May Cry 4
02/05 Turok
02/12 Lost Odyssey
03/04 Army of Two

Wii

01/08 Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law

Today's Lesson: Speaking French (wk3)

So far now, I’m already half way into the game. I’ve upgraded myself up to third grader status, I’m still having difficulty trying to add the “to be, to have etc” into a sentence, but as for the rest of the lesson, I think this game has enabled me to learn more vocabulary very effectively. I can now read some simple French words and make sense of where and what I want as an added bonus, I know how to arrange a sentence!

However, as I have said, it’s quite different when it comes to constructing your very own sentence. I guess this is where I need to transfer all my lessons into a piece of paper and just write it down until I get it all in my head! Dang it…!

I can’t stress how much this non-game had given me an insight of the language. This is coming from a guy who only knows how to say bonjour and merci beaucoup! More updates on the way!

Bonne année!

Brugamers Review: King of Kong: Fistful of Quarters.

King of Kong: Fistful of Quarters, directed by Seth Gordon, is a mockumentary that portrays a sort of Big guy versus the small guy senario, its like the Empire against a small rebellion faction, where the latter is just one normal guy. The movie is epic in proportion depicting some sort of truth in the realm of competitive gaming.

The story follows a normal joe, Steve Weibe as he tries to beat Billy Mitchell's Donkey Kong high score record... a whopping 874,300 points! What follows here is a compelling tale of manipulation and deceit, some bad blood, trials and tribulations and its all wholesome fun.

Now how is this movie relevant to us? Well, if you're the classic gamer who thinks that games (read: Joust, Pac-man, Donkey Kong... anything from the 1980's) are all about the skills, then you would probably like this film with a dose of reality. Normal people may think to see this as a geek fest... but regardless, its a nice movie to watch.

In what most film critics calls as a "mockumentary" I assume people won't be offended how evil Billy Mitchell is... I doubt he isn't. (EGM confirmed it anyway) Anyway! For the Brugamers-movie buffs out there, look out for this flick!

Brugamers Review: Brave Story.

Review: in less than 100 words!

With the lack of great RPGs for the PSP out there this game breathes a refresher, and its just as good. Everything about this game screams typical RPG fare, but when you're on the go, this game will hold your candle. Battles are fast and addictive and with no load times during the fights. The story is nothing to write home about in the beginning, but as you traverse further on, you'll begin to love the beautiful world of Vision and the characters in it. The graphics are up to PS2-like quality, its smooth and almost no hint of slowdown. Despite the ugly cover, any RPG fan should at least have a go with this game, 25+ hours of good gameplay can't be all that bad right?

p/s I doubt that was 100 words.

Demo Review: Welcome To Paradise

Welcome to Paradise, a place like no other. Downloaded the Burnout Paradise demo yet? I did but never got to install it until lastnight. And boy, was I in for a treat.

I forgot how fun the Burnout series have been and how much addicted I was to them. I would replay and replay the games and tracks over and over again for months. The only problem I had then was with the load times. Now imagine this, an open city, free roaming and a huge ass world for your burnout pleasure. You feel me? Yeah!

Although you are limited to a section of Paradise City in the demo, it's still fun looking for ramps, off track areas, hidden passages, etc. You get tons of traffic and best part, the demo includes online play. And this is where the fun part of Burnout Paradise really starts.

Multiplayer in Burnout is always fun. Ramming into your opponents, wrecking their cars and sending them into oblivion is pure joy. Back during the PSP years, wireless multiplayer was introduced and to smack your other people's cars just to see the looks on their faces is one of the things that make you go on. In Burnout Paradise, you get to record that look via a usb camera. But let's rewind back a bit to online play.

While driving around Burnout Paradise in single player mode, it's easy to get online. You don't have to exit your gameplay or go through different kinds of menus again just to get to the online lobby. All you have to do is press right on the d-pad and an online option will pop up. Then all you have to do is select the online option you prefer and next thing you know, you see cars from others playing online! That's how easy it is to get online. You do the same thing as well if you would like to invite your friends into your Paradise City. Via the right d-pad button, you can invite your friends to join your game and play with them. Getting online is as fast as playing Burnout itself! And if you have a USB camera connected, when an opponent hits and wrecks your car, the game will automatically capture a "Mugshot" photo of you at the moment of the crash and sends it over to your opponent! Imagine looking at their crushed face - ooohh~

Now less talk and go get that demo. If you are on PSN, invite me and I'll show you around Paradise City, the Burnout way *evil laughter*

*Narrator's Voice* Get Burnout Paradise, January 2008.

Creating A New PSN Account

Creating a new PSN account might be simple to you but I realise that a lot of people, mostly those new to the online environment in consoles, are struggling in trying to create their own online identity, be it on Live or PSN. Here, I'll cover the basics on creating your own PSN account, in case you aren't able to google it quickly. So here's the step-by-step guide.

1. Create your own user account
First and foremost, you'll need to create your own User account on your PS3 by going to "Create New User" because your PSN ID will be attacted to that user once you've created it. So make sure it's not your brother's user account or someone else's.

2. Sign Up for PLAYSTATION@Network
Depending on your version of your PS3 (version 2.00 onwards have their own PSN icon on the XMB), go to the end and click on "Sign Up for PLAYSTATION@Network.

3. PSN Registration
Select a region of your choice. You can select any region you like so long as you can give a valid address. Pick US if you would like to get a lot of contents weekly and just google for a valid US address.

When it comes to Master or Sub account, select Master.

You'll also need a valid e-mail address.

Online ID means the username that you will be using when you are playing games. So this will be the name other people will see when you play online or when you are on their friends list.

Once you get to the address section, just go and google for a valid address depending on which region you picked. It doesn't have to be someone's home address. Just get an address and you'll be done.

Forget about the Billing Information for now. You can do that later.

4. Done
Congrats! You've created your first PSN ID. Now just go over to the end of the XMB and add friends! You can add me. My PSN ID is sinadam. There you go, one friend for you. =)

Today's Lesson: Speaking French.

Bonjour, comment allez-vous?

I wanted to see the effectiveness of this DS game, and ever since Monday this week, I finally graduated to a "2nd Grader". So far, as I get my pronouns corrected by the hot French tutor and memorizing how to construct a sentence, I think I am learning something. The mini-games included in this game helps in a lot ways, though childish, but it makes you feel the accomplishments you made throughout the lessons.

Let you guys know how I fare in this whole ordeal as I update next week~ at this moment,je suis heureux~!

au revoir!

Mass Effect: Something went wrong here.

Not every game is perfect, because if it was, we would still be playing it till now. Instead, what we look for in a game is the experience of virtual life.

One said event was when my character was on assignment pinpointing a signal which lead him through the financial district and... lo and behold... a man stuck on a ceiling!

Now I figured, the other guy talking to the ceiling must've broke into a quarrel and took out the old spinach and sock it to him. I can't say much about the other guy, but the assailant was taken into custody soon afterwards.

Got a better story to this picture? post it up at the comments~!

FFXIII Extended Trailers

Who doesn't love themselves a Final Fantasy XIII trailer? Woohoo!! These two trailers were taken from a DVD released in Japan. They're the extended versions of FFXIII and FFXIII Versus trailers, apparently the ones shown at TGS a few months ago, which never made it out of Japan. So, we should all say thank you to the guy who ripped it off that DVD and posted it on the Internet!

BBQ Party Dec 07

The photos took some time to be uploaded. I was busy with watching DVDs and finishing this game I meant to finish last week. But anyway, finally, the BBQ party of December 2007 photos are finally up.

How was the party? This was actually the first BBQ that was left to just JuLeZz and me both to get together because my family (besides my one brother) were away overseas. The past ones, especially the ones before I met JuLeZz, were heavily helped by my parents and aunts. So there were a lot of changes this time around.


Besides the preparation, it also started to rain to begin with, so we ended up setting everything inside the house as opposed to the previous ones where we always had them outside. So a lot of last minute planning had to be involved last minute. But thank God this time we thought of preparing the food early, as in having the BBQ food ready before the guests arrived. Well, most of them were - so people ate earlier this time. Which was a good thing for me since I don't have to be outside a lot and actually get to sit and mingle with everyone and just relax. One thing I always ended up with is a tiring body at the end of the party.

Then there were the crowds. A lot of the people I invited couldn't make it due to the rain and a lot of the usual crowd weren't there either. But there were a lot of new faces which was kinda fun too. I could only imagine what it would be like to have all the 70+ people who knew about the BBQ be there (note, we prepared food for 70 - so we ended up with leftovers, lots of leftovers).


Entertainment wise, we set up a lot of PS3s playing Guitar Hero III and Pro Evolution Soccer as well as a corner for Wii. We prepared the usual poker set and card decks. Missing is the xbox but in its place, we turned the living room into a karaoke room - which I kinda missed most of the time since I was outside and around the Guitar Hero area.


All in all, it wasn't such a bad party. Especially since it was prepared by only the both of us. It was fun as always but I knew it could've been better if it wasn't for the initial rain (it only rained for a moment then it didn't rain all night!). Plus, having the party inside didn't really feel like there were a lot of people - like it didn't feel like a huge party as the previous ones - plus most people left early when we used to stay there till late. Then again, some people did stay behind until 5am. JuLeZz and me? We stayed up till around 2.30 playing Guitar Hero, the most popular area of the night. And while JuLeZz and I were ready for bed, we could still hear those we left with my brother outside playing Guitar Hero. Y'know, not a lot of people know this but my BBQs used to be a gaming gathering and once it was called by a really long name, the Xbox Lan BBQ Party or BBQ Halo LAN Party.


Also, we were supposed to have a surprise birthday party too but the birthday girl couldn't make it. So happy belated birthday to Khairunnisa Halim! Too bad you couldn't make it. It would've added to the fun night.

Anyway, I'd like to say thanks to a number of people. My pretty wife especially for the food - we stayed up really late the night before just trying out stuff. Her two siblings and the maid for assisting her. Zeeko for coming early to help out with some of the preparations (lifting this and that). Azz and Ihsan for helping with most of the barbequing. Zool and Ripin for helping out with some of the BBQ as well. Also, thank you Ripin for taking some photos. My mom and brother for the sponsor (I feel like I just won an award). Those guys who brought food to the party, Far for the dessert, Zool for the hell of a lot of sausages, James who left Azz with money for sausages since he couldn't make it and Azz for the bottles of coke. I hope I didn't miss anyone. I didn't really took charge of the food people brought in. So if I didn't mention you, I apologise. And finally, I would like to say a huge thanks to our guests for coming, even when it rained so heavily. Hope you had fun!


Until the next BBQ guys!

Photos can be found at the following:
Karaoke
WiiTastic
Guitar Hero III Stars
The Rest

PS: Crap! I didn't get to take a group photo with anyone at all!!


Posted on Shutter Speech, BruGamers, Sin Adam, Mr Syaf's Multiply and TheExclusives.net.

Internet Radio and DVR for PSP

I love my PSP. And I still do. Owning a PS3 makes me even love the PSP more. Why? Because of Remote Play. Accessing the PS3 via the PSP when I'm at a cafe is pure awesomeness. Accessing my PSN via PSP is just pure greatness, especially reading messages left by you friends. And with the latest PS3 and PSP firmware updates, you can switch on your PS3 remotely via your PSP! Now that's just pure orgasmic. But to each their own.

Now, speaking of firmware updates, the PSP will get a new update soon in the form of version 3.80. With it, PSP owners (and I think it's really strictly in Japan) can record digital videos straight to their memory stick with their 1seg peripheral (its this device that can catch digital signals and view it on the PSP). Digital Video Recording is cool and I wonder if we can take advantage of it?

The update also includes an Internet Radio (as the screenshot shows) and hopefully this will be a great feature that a lot of us might love, though I don't really listen to the radio. But hey, you guys might!

Warhawk's New Dropship

I don't know if you guys have seen this or heard of it but Warhawk is preparing for a 1.2 update which will include the following new dropship. Check out the following video.

TIME picks HALO 3

Usually, I don't really care much about gaming top 10s from places outside the gaming journalism but, I guess, TIME Magazine can be somewhat okay. Somewhat.

In any case, I'm sure a lot of you would be happy to know that TIME Magazine dubbed Halo 3 as their No 1 video games of 2007, calling Halo 3 as the "perfect hardcore first-person combat simulator". I think that's a matter of perspective, I like COD4 better. But I can't argue that Halo 3 doesn't belong there. It's a great game.

Here's the rest of the list:

1. Halo 3
2. The Orange Box
3. Rock Band
4. Super Mario Galaxy
5. BioShock
6. Call of Duty 4
7. Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
8. Mass Effect
9. Ace Combat 6
10. God of War 2

Seems like even the PS2 shares the top 10. Seriously, how can TIME Magazine call it Video Game of 2007 when 2007 has yet to end? This is why I rely more on the gaming industry's own journalists to come out with the best top 10s because they wait until next year to try out all games. TIME needs to know that putting games into Top 10s of the year takes time. So I'm going back to my dose of 1up, GameSpy and IGN.

Oddity: Transforming Shoes.

Transformers transcends mostly everything we love about the 80's (GI JOE, Captain Power and Thundercats asides) but nothing screams love when you see your beloved transformers starting to take interest in sports gears... Hells, you have to love it!

PAIN in PAIN

Downloaded PAIN on the PS3 and I'm liking it. Here's a video of a replay I made.

Is It Really Cool?

How do you keep your PS3? In its horizontal position? Or vertical? A lot of people seem to be putting them in the vertical position - mostly because it looks cooler that way. I have to agree. But note, apparently, the PS3 is cooler in its horizontal position - or so someone who used a pair of thermal goggles to look at his PS3 claimed. Check out the following pictures (click on thumbnails for larger images).

Now what can we learn from this? Something that looks cool isn't always cool.

Ninja Gaiden II Interview

Been so busy the past few weeks, what with work taking a lot of my time day and night, especially since the holiday is coming. So I intend to spend most of my holiday time playing games and socialising. I miss those.

Anyway, Ninja Gaiden II rocks! Well, it's not my most favourite game but it still rocks! I watched some gameplay videos over at gamevideos.com but I was too busy to link those here then. By now, they're kind of stale news for you guys if you've seen them by now. So I thought I'd post this video of a Ninja Gaiden II interview.

PS Store for PC

Out and about without your PS3 but you want to check out what's on the PS-Store via a hotspot area? Well, Sony has made your dreams come true! The PS-Store for PC is live and kickin' with games and demos for your PSP too! The PS-Store world is expanding! Watch out world!

Click here to go to the store.

Rocking on Guitar Hero III

Guitar Hero, the game that has proven so popular even until its third installment. These music based games are fun, mimicking musical instruments by tapping buttons according to the beat. It's fun and can test your reaction time pretty well. Usually, I would play such games if they have a good music library. But I never played Guitar Hero before. Not the first nor the second. Why? Because of the fact that you can't get the guitar here in Brunei when it was out for the PS2 without ordering. So it was quite a turn off.

Now, it's a different story. More and more original games are coming into the country. And more and more games are making their way online. Guitar Hero III promises extra downloadable content via PSN and Xbox live and even now, new tracks are already available, such as Foo Fighters, for download. That, and the inclusion of a wireless guitar, made me put GHIII on the top of my most wanted list of games this November. And I finally got my wish.

Today, with my brother, we bought, not one, but two GHIIIs for our PS3s. And playing multiplyer rocks! Heck, my fingers are still aching for the whole afternoon of playing GHIII.


One thing I hate about the guitar is the use of AAA batteries. Yes, no recharging via USB. Which means, you got to stock up on batteries, just like the Wiimote. Annoying.

But all in all, GHIII is fun! And with the great music library, online play, promise of continuous DLC, this is the Guitar Hero to own! Let's rock baby!

View album here.

Proposal in Halo 3

Halo has made a huge impact on a lot of things and now, the latest installment, Halo 3, has helped combine two lives together. Through Halo 3, Moviesign made a Forge Map in Halo 3 and asked his girlfriend, Furtive Penguin, to join in. After asking her to follow him claiming a place where he had put an energy sword, they came to a secret place where Moviesign made a marriage proposal using various Halo weapons. Guess what she said?

A wedding date is yet to be set but furtive penguin said, "We're waiting to see what the release date is for the next Halo game. We don't want any conflicts."

Seems like the gaming world is filled with real romance after all huh?

Upcoming PS3 Firmware 2.0

My posts have been a bit too slow these days. I've been busy with work and extra activities related to work. This might go on in the next few days but I'm hoping to be able to update on a daily basis again once I get the time.

Anyway, the PlayStation blog just updated with great news on the PS3 side. Firmware 2.0 will be released in the next few days with great updates, especially one that allows you to turn on your PS3 remotely via any hotspots using your PSP (finally!). I've summarised the updates below so you won't have to read the whole blog post.

Information Board: A new XMB that gives you PlayStation related news live on your PS3.
Remote Start: Turn on your PS3 remotely via any hotspots with your PSP
Custom Themes: Just like the PSP, you get to change not only your wallpaper but also the icons
Custom Playlists: For both music and photos. You can finally select which songs or photos to play (which should've been there in the first place in my opinion)

Also, a small update, the PlayStation Network will have its own category represented by the new rounded icon that has the four PS buttons on it (shown in the image above).

Update:
View the video demonstrating the new firmware update here.

Update 2:
Just found out that firmware 2.00 also includes several updates. They are:

Additional Canon Printer support
DualShock 3 support
Additional Sorting Options

Have a nice day!

Update 3:
Thought I'd let you know that Firmware 2.00 is available now! Update away!

The Eye Sees You

Have you seen the PS-Eye being sold anywhere around the country? I'd like to get my hands on one and try it out. Heck, video chat would be so cool as well as creating some simple videos out of it just for fun (I doubt it's as advance as the video editing tools I've used but hey, we're aiming for fun right?).

Anyway, check out what the PS-Eye can do. It just came out and it has shown a lot of advancement from the EyeToy.

Cheap "PS3" For You!

Can't afford to get a PS3? Well, now you can get something that looks somewhat the same! The PolyStation 3! (hey, still a PS3 right?)

Top Gear to be on GTTV

This news is a bit late but the all popular Top Gear show of the Great Britain will be put into GTTV which is a part of GT5. BBC, in partnership with Sony, will distribute 40 episodes of Top Gear to GTTV. Now who doesn't love Top Gear?

SSFIITHR Vid: fewh~

Can't wait for Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix? Neither can I! This downloadable game which will be available on PSN and XBL has seen a little light of day. Here is a video of the game in action played on the 360. It's a bit blurry since the guy recorded the game with a cameraphone.

White PS3

Those Japanese are lucky. They seem to be getting a lot of things early such as the PS3 DualShock 3. On November 11th, Japan will see the release of the White ceramic PS3 that's been shown in past PS3 images before launch. Funky. Although personally, I'd rather have the black one. But for collection purposes, I might just get my hands on this... ah~ if only I am rich.

The Return!

I'm back from my week long hiatus and I haven't touched any game until a few days ago when I finally tried out the Ratchet and Clank Future: ToD demo. That game rocks! It will definitely be on my buy list as soon as I can get the extra money.

Anyway, a lot of news have been out while we celebrated our Hari Raya (yes, I didn't stop reading - i just didn't post them) and I thought I'd start posting with the debut of Street Fighter IV. Ah~ finally...

Warhawk Patches

Upcoming patches will be available soon for Warhawk that will resolve a number of current issues in the game as well as add a few new layouts for small scale games. The following is a list of updates for the soon to be released Warhawk v1.1.

Server-side updates
* Stat database stability improvements
* Improved server stability
* Max Clan limit changed from 32 to 64
* Viral Rank-up bug fixed and correct for players that were accidentally ranked up.
* “Time-in-Vehicle” Stats fixed so certain awards can now be granted properly.

Client-side updates for Patch v1.1
* Stat connection, fetch/post fixes
* Significantly improved client connection stability
* Quad “????” Ping display bug fixed.
* Added support for Player-Ranked Servers.
* Game synchronization fixes due to fluctuating network conditions (packet-drop).
* Crash fixes for end of game and split screen.

Version 1.2 on the other hand will include the following updates:

Patch v1.2 includes:
* 5 New layouts.
* Clan game server option.
* Buddy slot reservations.
* Integrated Warhawk Store.
* Updated CTF capture/return behavior.
* Internal stat padder protection.
* Booster Pack status display at join game list.
* DualShock3 integration.
* Separate SIXAXIS motion control on/off per mode (ground, hover, flight).
* Detailed Player Score display at end of game fixed.
* Added new server type filters (player, ranked, dedicated, clan, Official Warhawk, etc).
* Added new server full/open filter.
* Fall damage exploit fixed.
* Dismount into walls exploit fixed.
* Invisible Tank, Turret & Warhawk exploit fixed.
* Auto-kick of idle players.
* Add to Favorites button added to end game screen.
* Increased VOIP volume when not using headset.

For a detailed information on v1.2, check out this playstation blog post which also include the maps of the new layouts.

[Via BruWarhawk]

Raya Hiatus

I'm on a one week Raya hiatus. Wanna spend some quality time with the wife and the family this season. So be back after all the aidilfitri's fever dies down - or might be earlier. For now, I wish you Selamat Hari Raya. Apologies if I've ever offended you in some way or another from this site.

Have a good week from BruGamers!

Have You Got The Eyes?

Graphics today has proven a lot in terms of comparing itself with real life images. The differences between these two have become smaller each generation. Gran Turismo has been known to lead graphics everytime and GT5 has proven to be more than a worthy champion.

Now, do you know how to spot real life image from in-game graphics? Try out this test and see if you have the eyes to see what's real and what's not. Have fun!